You can run Depends on the Max binaries to determine which dlls they call, you shouldn't need to disassemble anything to find that out. Honestly folks, sometimes the sport of blaming Microsoft for everything you don't like gets a little silly. Perhaps you should blame Discreet for putting their product on Windows at all. Certainly, the last I heard, no one was being forced to use Microsoft's APIs. Discreet could write the entire thing in 80x86 assembly. They can engineer their own framework independent of anything Microsoft. You're blaming Microsoft for providing support that makes it easier for developers to develop applications instead of writing the plumbing? Come On. If Autodesk wants to, they can license the Windows source code and write any interface they choose to. Perhaps we should go back to the days when an OS provided only the bare bones necessary to boot up. You may not like Microsoft or their products but the fact that companies like Discreet choose to use the facilities those products provide in developing their applications makes business sense to them. As for support, I've been developing on the using Microsoft tools for many years. I used Borland's development tools before that. I don't know of any other company that provides better developer support, more free tools and code, API documentation, etc. Combine that with the wealth of third party resources available and I think the support is excellent. There's nothing wrong with Linux, Apple or any other platform. They each have their strengths just as Microsoft has weaknesses. You base your decisions on cost, potential market, skills and that intangible "feel" a particular platform has and how well it meshes with the way you work and your philosophy. Reflexive dislike of a particular company or religious zeal for another shouldn't cloud technology decisions.

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken